Soul Song
by Shadows of Sorrowful Smiles
Summary: Four years ago, a dark mage under Zeref's control murdered Lucy, but gave fragments of her Soul to Gray and Natsu. Now, word spreads that Zeref is targeting another one of Fairy Tail's mages, and the guild members do their best to be sure Gray never realizes that it's Juvia, but things might not go as planned for them. Slight Nalu and scattered hints of Gruvia
1. Four years Later, now you're in danger

**Absolutely do not read this until you've read I Give This Soul To You, And You And You! This is the sequel!**

_Wake up! Wake up, Natsu!_

"But Luuuuuuce…. I'm tired!" the pyromaniac protested roughly, reaching out for his best friend's Soul. The yellow orb whizzed out of his reach and continued to send wake up calls to his head. Natsu pressed his hands to his ears, as if covering them would block her out, and then sighed loudly, "You never did that before! Why do ya have to be so noisy now?"

_Do you not know what day it is?_

"Let-Natsu-Go-Back-To-Sleep Day. Whatever it is, it's not important enough to wake me up at," he glanced over to the flashing alarm clock that Lucy had once bought for him and squinted at the digits swimming in his foggy eyes, "… one o' clock…? In the morning? Really, Lucy?" he groaned and dropped his head back into his pillow. The Soul made a clicking noise.

_Actually, it's one in the afternoon. You're typically already awake by now. And if you honestly cannot remember what day it is today, then I will leave right now and join Gray and the other fragment._

The sleepy dragon-slayer lifted his head wearily. He tried to filter through his mind's calendar, trying to remember what made today so important. As the minutes passed, the Soul developed an almost disappointed seeming look on its glowing face.

_Of course, you wouldn't remember. Even if it's today… I'll be back later, Natsu. You better know it by the time I get back._

Natsu sat up straight and flung his hands forward to grasp the glowing Soul, but she clicked again and floated out of his reach. She stared down at him for a few seconds, and then bobbed gently out of the hole in his cottage's roof that he'd installed personally for her. Now though, he cursed its existence and struggled to remember the day's significance.

It was July.

Right? And it was the first of July….

Natsu jumped out of his hammock and grabbed his favorite one-sleeved jacket, running out the door. Today was Lucy's birthday! How could he forget? Of course, since she was dead, it wasn't like she would actually be getting older, but it had been customary to celebrate with the Souls in the four years following her death…

And he'd forgotten. His best friend of six years (13 if you counted the years they spent in a dead sleep on Tenroujima Island) would have been turning 23 today, and all he has to say is _how is your birthday more important than my sleep? _Uuugh…. And she had gone to spend it with the freaking Ice-bastard, too. She must really be disappointed with him…

Natsu ran his hands through his messy pink hair as he loped toward the guild, surprised that even though he racing with all his speed, he still hadn't managed to catch up to his partner's Soul.

Just as he reached the guild, he saw a familiar wisp of golden trail by the side window and lunged at it, catching the pulsing Soul in his warm hands. His triumph was short-lived, however, when he turned her around and saw the two black beads wrapped around the tiny golden ponytail shaped stump on the right side of the Soul.

This wasn't his fragment; it was Gray's. "Sorry," he chuckled, letting her fly out of his hands and glare at him with an irritated face.

_ I sincerely hope you've found out what today is. Honestly, it's ridiculous and a little upsetting that you didn't know._

"I'm _soooooooorry_, ok? I'm stupid and we both know it, and apparently," he leaned in close to the Soul and took on his Dragon Slayer Secret look, "everybody in the guild knows it too. But I remember now, that today is your birthday! Sooooooo, happy birthday, Lucy!"

His cheerful exclaim died away when he noticed the Soul drooping.

_ It's not my birthday, Natsu. Mavis, why don't you know?_

"But it's July 1st!" Natsu protested. "That's your birthday! What else could possibly be going on today that isn't that?"

"Actually, it's November 16th. And it's the four-year anniversary of Lucy's death," Gray remarked calmly, stepping out of the guild and standing next to his Soul fragment. It nuzzled up to him happily, and Natsu watched jealously. Somehow, Gray and the fragment always got along, while Natsu and his own fragment were constantly getting in fights and bickering with each other.

"He's right," Happy mewed from behind him. Natsu stared down disdainfully at the cat... when had he gotten here? And whose side was he on, anyways?

_Do you remember now?_

Natsu visibly brightened when he heard the quiet question.

"Yes! I do! So you can stop hiding and being mad and now we can have some fun!"

Gray snickered, and his Soul made the tinkly laugh, but both smiled when the other globule peeked its way out of the ice-mage's pants and made Natsu shriek.

"What are you doing in there!? You'll catch his pervertedness!" Natsu cried, opening his hands for the Soul to fly into.

_There's something very important we have to do today._ The Soul flew up to his face, and Lucy's expression morphed into seriousness. _I died to save Nuka's family, and the part of me that has been given to her for that to happen has already been used. Unfortunately, Zeref appears to be targeting another family, and asking for another Soul. The Master and I believe he has a purpose for collecting Souls, and he asked us to go check it out._

"Awesome!" Natsu cheered. "We haven't gone on a mission together in a couple weeks!"

"Oi, she means I'm going too," Gray muttered. The fire mage stared blankly at him, and then snorted.

_He's right, idiot. We all need to go._

Natsu pouted, tucking the Soul into the inside of his jacket and turning into the guild. "I don't understand why it can't just be me and you," he grumbled to it. "_I'm _your partner, not him."

_Gray needs to come. The next Soul that Zeref is asking for is Juvia's. We haven't told him yet, and Master Makarov decided it would be best if we had Gray come along for the sake of protecting her._

"…oh," Natsu sighed. He wouldn't condemn his nakama to death, no matter what. It's not like he didn't get to go on other missions with Lucy anymore… they were just becoming farther and farther spaced apart, and since she had no more magical power (**all the magical power transferred to the Soul given to Nuka so that it could be used for the secret purpose that shall be revealed later**) she couldn't help him fight at all. "Does Juvia know?" the Soul looked away.

_Juvia is already aware of the threat. She is in a safe place, with Erza and Lyon to protect her. Erza for the strength and utmost power, Lyon for…_

"Unconditional love and support, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. How are we supposed to help, though?"

_Levy's been doing research on Souls. She found that… well; it would be easier if you just asked her. She knows more than she's told me._

"Uhhhh…. Levy…?" Natsu called to the tiny solid-script mage. Levy glanced up from the book she was submerged in, saw her best friend and her partner, and scampered over.

"What can I do for you, Natsu?" she asked politely.

The dragon-slayer rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward. Of all the people in the guild, Levy was the only one who made him even slightly uncomfortable. Maybe because she was just so damn smart and he was afraid that she could have somehow persuaded Lucy to abandon him in pursuit of a "more mature, and intelligent, gentleman," as she'd put it.

"Lucy told me you've been doing research on Souls…" he trailed off.

"OH, yes!" the blue-haired girl responded brightly. She lifted a stack of papers from absolutely nowhere, and ushered him over to the table where she'd been reading. "Ok, so I knew you've been taking Lu-chan out on missions again, and that she didn't have any form of protection without her keys and her magical power—" at this, Natsu growled, "—well she does have you but I'm talking self-protection. I knew that and thought I should see if I could find anything out for her…" Levy leafed through her papers, and pulled out one that was wrinkled and filled with her neat, tiny handwriting, notes scribbled neatly everywhere. The page was absolutely filled. "And I found here, a list of abilities that Souls have!

"For instance, a Soul has the power to heal, themselves, mages, and humans. That way, even if they get injured, there is no risk of them being killed. If they are injured to the point of unconsciousness, they can still heal with just a fraction of their mind working.

"Also, after being stripped from their former magic, Souls develop a new kind of magic called _Soul Sing_, where they can communicate telepathically with anybody they wish to, and they can use their voice to control them."

"'Soul Sing?' that sounds ridiculous," Natsu scoffed.

_**Listen to Levy and stop interrupting her.**_ Natsu tensed, but the beautiful voice echoed in his head until he _just wanted to obey and do whatever it wanted him to do because Lord Mavis and all that's holy it was a sound like honey._

"I think you've just discovered Soul Sing," Levy chuckled awkwardly, glancing around at all the mages who had frozen and turned to stare at her.

"And we're going to use that to stop Zeref from whatever he's doing?" Natsu asked, watching Lucy carefully. She hummed at him and bounced over to Levy, who welcomed the golden orb with a soft smile.

_We're going to use it to get him to spill on what he's planning on using Souls for, and then work from there. Levy's coming with us as well._

"Ok, since everybody apparently knows about this mission before I do, care to explain to me everything?" Natsu glared at Lucy. The Soul hummed and narrowed her eyes.

_Everybody else was here hours before you were. If you'd been at the guild earlier, you would have heard the entire plan with everybody else. Gray, Levy, Wendy, you, Gajeel and I are going to Zeref and finding out why he's killing mages for their Souls. And then we're going to set up a better protection for Juvia until we can stop whatever Zeref is planning._

"Eh…" Levy chuckled at the expression the fire dragon-slayer made when his companion Soul berated his lateness.

_Why were you so late in waking up, anyways?_

"I stayed up reeeeeeally late last night," Natsu muttered.

"Doing what, oi?" Cana snickered from her perch on the table opposite them. Levy flushed, and after realizing what the drunk was hinting at, Natsu did as well.

"N-nothing!" he stuttered. Lucy giggled, and flew back to him.

_Then what were you doing? I slept over at your cottage and I didn't hear you being noisy._

"WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT IS NOT OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. LET'S JUST GO AND BEAT THIS GUY SO WE CAN SAVE –mph—" he was interrupted by Levy hurriedly slapping her palm over his mouth with a frantic glance at Gray.

"Shh!" she hissed. "Gray doesn't know about Juvia yet!"

They turned to look at said ice-mage, seeing him eyeing them suspiciously. Levy cursed when he began to march over to them. Lucy, knowing that Natsu had seriously screwed up in almost letting their secret spill, whizzed up to Gray. Natsu couldn't hear if she'd said anything to him, but he saw Gray hesitate, and then turn back slowly.

"That was close. Natsu, Gray _cannot_, under any circumstances, find out about Juvia until we find out what Zeref is planning."

"Why not?" the pyro complained, freeing himself from the little mage's grip.

_When you found out I was being targeted, you panicked, but I was still there and you and Gray, and Erza all fought to save me. If Gray overhears that somebody is planning on murdering Juvia, and he can't find her in the guild, he'll panic. Big-time._

"Oh… I … I see," Natsu sighed. He wasn't very good at keeping secrets. "But, like, seriously. Can we please go now? The sooner we get there, the sooner we can fight and rescue Juvia! Yosh!"

"_Natsu!"_ they both snapped at him, with another furtive glance at the ice-make mage. This time, Gray was staring at them with a confused expression. He walked over again, but this time Lucy's words didn't stop him.

"What do you mean, 'Rescue Juvia'?" he asked, as cold as his magic. He glanced around, true to Lucy's warning, and upon not finding the rain mage in any of her normal places (**and by normal, he means the places where he typically notices her stalking him XD**), he snapped back to the two mages and Soul. "Where is she? Where's Juvia?"

His Soul fragment bobbed up to his ear, humming something, but Gray angrily pushed it away and repeated himself. Levy cursed at Natsu and sighed, running her hands through her bright blue hair. The two fragments bumped into each other, and Natsu guess guiltily that they were trying to come up with a way to solve _his_ problem. Gray was still growling and snapping though, and that had to be dealt with first.

"Juvia only went along with Erza on a mission," Mirajane stepped in. the five glanced over to the white haired barmaid, four in relief and one in puzzlement.

"But Juvia has always gone on missions with me. Or she at least told me or somebody else before she left with someone," Gray protested. Mira smiled sweetly.

"She told me. And Lyon is there too! Oh, I almost forgot to mention it… silly me. Don't worry, Gray, she has Lyon and Erza to protect her."

Silence.

"_What? _Lyon is with her? Why?"

"Because… the mission calls for a fake couple and an extra fighter!" Levy quickly said. Gray stiffened. "But don't worry! It wasn't even S-class! And if we go and take care of Zeref, we can go see her on the way back!"

Gray glared between the two girls, the two Souls, and Natsu, and then sighed. "Let's just go. Is everybody ready?"

Everyone except Natsu nodded, and the fire mage gasped.

"I have to pack my undies!" he declared loudly, rushing out of the guild to do so.

"Do we have to bring him?" Gray pressed. "Can't we just leave without him?"

_Natsu's magic can be very useful for eliminating any threat that Zeref poses. It's best to take him along and worry about the consequences later._

Having said that, the Soul floated over to meet with the dragon-slayer, telling everybody else to be at the train station in ten minutes and that she'd bring Natsu over.

Gray wasn't very happy, on the way to the town Shindale, which was where Nuka had supposedly made the deal with Zeref. He had a feeling that his guild mates were lying to him about Juvia, and whatever was going on they were dead-set on not telling him.

Except Natsu. The idiot knew something, but was too stupid to keep it a secret. He could tell by the reactions of Levy and Lucy after the rambunctious fire mage had shouted something about _rescuing Juvia_ when they scolded him and hurriedly checked to see if Gray had heard; which he did. Natsu was the one to go to for the truth.

But first, he had to think of what they should be doing. He was going on this mission to protect whatever unlucky mage was being targeted now, and any that could be targeted in the future, not to worry about Juvia and the fact that all he'd heard about her was that she was on a mission.

With Lyon. Grinding his teeth, Gray pushed the fact away. His mission was more important than this stupid, supposed "love triangle" and he was going to prove it by giving it everything he had.

_What are you thinking about, Gray?_

He turned his head to face his fragment, noticing the familiar expression of worry. The sunlight streaming through the window he was laying against sparkled against the black beads, and he noticed that the sparks bounced off of the Soul and buzzed around with a tint of amusement.

"I'm sure you already know what I'm thinking about, Lucy," he murmured. "You're too smart. You know fully well what's on my mind, and yet you have no intention of telling me."

The Soul turned away, and the sunlight no longer bounced off the black beads. Silence followed for a few seconds, and then the reply came in his mind.

_ Gray, what's going on with Juvia is something we can tell you after we take care of Zeref. Makarov himself says it's a secret best kept until then. Nothing bad will happen though, I promise. She has Erza and—_

"—Lyon to keep her safe," Gray finished grumpily. "Yes, yes, I know. But why am I the only one who doesn't know? If it's a secret best kept, why does everybody other than me know about why Juvia is gone?"

_That's something that I cannot tell you. Please, just forget about it. When the time comes, I will tell you the truth. But until then, forget about it and focus on what we can do to help this targeted mage. It would be horrible if she died as well._

"So it's a 'she'," Gray mused softly. "Are we going to meet her? How much do you know about her?"

_We are not going to meet her, because she's been placed in a secure hiding place so that she is not to be found until we have determined her safety. Her guild is sick with worry for her, and the last thing we want is for another hit man to follow us to her hiding place so that she is killed. Anyways, I know much about her, but that is personal information as well. The hit-man could be anywhere, and I would not want him to get information on her magic or her looks. The more we can do to protect her, the better._

"…" Gray lay his head against the window, sighing softly. Lucy wasn't going to tell him anything more, that he could infer, so he was left to his own wonderings about who the mage was.

On the bench opposite him, Natsu was curled up and moaning, holding his Soul fragment in his palms. Gray imagined that it was yelling at him for holding it so tightly, but the fire mage was too lost in his motion-sickness to care. Beside him sat Wendy, looking guilty. She probably wanted to heal Natsu, but using Troia too often could waste the effects, as she'd said.

Levy was squeezed in the last ounce of space between the little dragon-slayer and the wall of their compartment, with her stack of research on Souls clenched between her tiny hands.

Which left Gajeel to sit next to Gray, staring at the door of the train with a look of pure hatred, and holding his stomach glumly.

When the Soul decided he wasn't going to say anything else, it hummed and whizzed up to the luggage compartment above his head. The light of the room reflected off of the beads, and as she moved, it cast a pattern of sparkles and shadow on the wall next to Natsu. Gray closed his eyes. Shindale was seven hours away, and it wasn't like thinking about Juvia was going to get him anywhere. Sleep was better than the mindless worry he was causing himself.

He barely had time to register the soft warmth of the Soul rubbing against his cheek, and then he was asleep.

"Is he asleep?" Wendy asked cautiously. Lucy hummed around his cheek, bumping into it and pressing herself onto it, and then turned back to them with a smile. She snuggled under his arm after, and left the other counterpart to use Natsu to share her thoughts.

"….guh…. Luce says he's out…" he moaned, holding her close to his chest. It hummed angrily at him.

"Levy-san, have you found out anything else about Souls?" Wendy asked, laying her hand on the sick mage's shoulder and letting a little magic flow into him. When he opened his eyes and smiled gratefully, they were less hazy and his face less contorted in discomfort.

"Yes, I have. For up to two hours after the death of a mage, their Soul can be returned into their body and they can be resurrected," she explained.

"…Does that mean we could have saved Lucy?" Natsu croaked. He unconsciously pulled the Soul tighter to his body, and she quieted, knowing he still felt guilt after four years from not saving her.

"No, Lu-chan's body would not have been able to hold the Soul in, so we would not have been able to bring her back even if we'd known about it," the little bookworm remarked sadly. "But," she glanced at Gray to be sure he wouldn't hear, "this means that even if they do get ahold of Juvia, and she is killed, as long as the body is in good condition and we have a fragment of her Soul, we can revive her!"

"That's a pretty big 'if'," Gajeel commented gruffly. His narrowed red eyes found Levy's stack of papers. "Is there anything else in there that's useful?"

Levy, embarrassed at having her theory be so blatantly dismissed, shuffled to another page and cleared her throat, "Actually, there is. Besides Soul Sing, a Soul can use its magical power to purify someone, or something."

"So Lucy-san can use it to purify Zeref's evil intentions?" Wendy asked with a hopeful smile.

Levy shook her head. "No; Zeref has much too much evil inside him. Even if all of us became Souls and used the Soul Purge, it wouldn't be enough to purify him. But, we can use it against the hit-man."

"And stop him from wanting to kill Juvia," Natsu finished. Within seconds though, he was groaning again, one hand clamped over his mouth to stop himself from vomiting.

"Yes," Levy agreed. "I'll keep looking through this; see if I can find anything else we can use. You guys should try to get some sleep, too." She lifted her pair of reading glasses from her bag, and pressed a button on the bridge of them. A tiny light was emitted from the glasses, and she winked at Wendy and Gajeel. The two dragon-slayers made her promise not to stay up too late, and then relaxed into their seats, leaving Levy to her research.

As she worked, Levy glanced over to where Gray sat, watching him twitch in his sleep. "I really hope we can save Juvia," she mused quietly. She'd seen Natsu's heartbreak over Lucy's death; she didn't want the same for the ice-make mage. Gray had lost too many important people to him, he couldn't lose Juvia as well or it would wreck him.

Her eyes drifted back to the page, and she continued to read, circling abilities and weaknesses of Souls, and looking for more detail on Soul Resurrection. She hadn't told the others, but bringing a Soul back to its body only worked once. If the body couldn't hold the Soul and it was rejected, or if the resurrected mage died again, the Soul would fade away.

Levy lifted her head again, to what appeared to be Gray having a nightmare, almost two hours later. The ice wizard was whispering frantically, and clenching his fists. Worried that he might accidently use his magic in his sleep, she quickly stepped over and shook him on the shoulders. His eyes flew open and he bolted upright, shocking Levy. When he seemed to recognize her, he calmed down.

"Gray," Levy whispered, "are you alright?" the raven-haired man closed his eyes again, exhaling deeply. When he opened his eyes again, they were calmer, and he slumped back down.

"Yes." His voice cracked, and Levy wondered worriedly what he was dreaming about that had caused such a nasty fright. "Is everybody else asleep?" she nodded wordlessly. "You should get some sleep then, Levy. You're the smartest one here; your skills are needed to for this mission. Don't make yourself weaker by not sleeping."

Levy smiled, and crept back to her seat, leaning back after tucking her papers into the side of the seat. Gray watched as her breathing slowed, and then allowed himself to relax completely.

He was having his nightmare again; where he and Natsu had burst through the guild doors, only to find Lucy's body blown to bits, but instead of his former teammate, it was Juvia who was slumped lifelessly over the table. It was Juvia who was bleeding out her life's liquid, and it was Juvia who was bathed in a soft blue glow as a small cerulean orb hovered above her body.

The dream scared him out of his wits, and he needed to think about something else, anything else before it consumed him, so he reached out and called out for Lucy. The Soul glowed as it hummed over to him, and Lucy's wistful face smiled at him. Gray gently stroked the area under the beads, and let her snuggle up to him.

_Would you like to tell me about the nightmare?_

Gray shook his head. Very quietly, he whispered, "Just let me pet you for a moment. It's calming me down." She relaxed in his arms and let the stricken man stroke her.

_Juvia will be fine, Gray. I know you're worried about her, but don't. We aren't going to lose her like we lost me. She will live._

If Gray hadn't been inside his dream fog, he might have noticed that Lucy had accidently given away that Juvia was the targeted mage, but he was far past thinking and realizing, and he just let himself drift into the repetition of his hand against the Soul until it washed over him and he was asleep again.

"These mages are so…." Wendy glanced around, trying to find the word she was looking for to describe the occupants of Shindale town by staring at them.

"Timid?" Levy offered. "Although it makes sense. Zeref lives somewhere in this city and they know that he's attacking and killing mages, or sending others to do so under the threat of destroying their families. It's their rational reaction to be terrified of everything."

Gajeel snorted as one of the villagers walked into a room and shrieked, running away to review a little puppy sleeping in the doorway. "Very timid."

Gray didn't comment on the shrewdness of the villagers, and instead was absentmindedly forming little shapes with ice in his hands. He glanced down to find a miniature Juvia and a miniature Lyon in each palm; clenching the former in his right fist he threw the latter at the ground, letting it shatter remorselessly.

Lucy lay nestled into the space between his shoulder and his hair, humming forlornly into his ear. He nudged her with his free hand, and she whizzed out and hovered in front of him, making a low keening sound.

"What's Lucy doing?" Natsu asked after his own Soul did the same.

Levy glanced over to the two Souls, and gasped. "They're combining! As two thirds of a whole Soul, they completely lack magical power, but if they combine they get half as much as the whole would!"

The five watched as the two globules pulsed and pressed into each other, molding to form a new orb twice as big with twice the glow.

_Mmm. it's been a while since I have felt magic flowing like this. Can you all hear me?_

Everyone nodded, and Levy pumped her fist. Now Lucy could communicate with all of them, and not just the chosen two.

"Now that you're bigger," Natsu exclaimed, "you can come stay with me!"

The Soul hissed at him.

_Natsu we have more important things to worry about other than who I'll be staying with, you idiot! Think about—think about that mage we're here to rescue!_

The fire mage pouted, but he grabbed the Soul and held it to his chest with a triumphant grin afterwards.

_Ugh. Can any of you dragon-slayers smell Zeref's scent?_

"I think I can pick it up," Gajeel muttered. "It smells horrible. Like death, and…" his eyes closed and a guilty expression flickered across his face, "fear. Lots and lots of fear."

He turned away, and began to march. The others followed, knowing he was reminiscing over the things he'd done while in Phantom Lord and how he'd terrorized people. What he didn't tell them was that he could pick out another scent in the fear, and that was the smell of water and of tears (**water for Juvia's magic and tears for her sadness and she's crying. Because tears are made of water so the explanation is necessary**).

"Gajeel, please slow down! We can't keep up with you!" Levy complained. He turned to see the small girl several meters behind him, with the larger Soul and Wendy next to her. Natsu and Gray were closer to him, but they were still far behind so he slowed down.

Within seconds, he felt Lucy's voice in his head again.

_What is it? What else do you smell?_

Gajeel beckoned her forward. When the Soul was close enough, he whispered Juvia's name. Lucy stopped floating and Natsu bumped into her.

_Juvia? You smell Juvia!? But she's supposed to be back in Crocus with Erza and Lyon! Why is she here?_

Natsu, having stopped after bumping into Lucy, inhaled sharply. His eyes widened, and he met eyes with Gajeel. The iron dragon-slayer nodded, silently confirming that he, too, smelled the water mage nearby.

Gray, having realized that they were once again being secretive, huffed angrily and brushed past them, but stopped dead in his tracks a few feet ahead of Gajeel.

"Mavis, why are these here?" he whispered. The ice-make mage revealed Juvia's little hat, and beside that her umbrella. Realization dawned in his eyes, and he turned back to his team with a shocked look. "It's Juvia, isn't it? The targeted mage, that's Juvia. They're trying to kill… they're…" he jumped to his feet and pelted up into the forest that the trail of fear and death lead to. "Juvia!"

Wordlessly, they all ran after him, and they caught up to him at a large stone altar, in the very center of a huge clearing surrounded by ash and dead foliage. In the altar, they could make out the faint glows of Souls inside.

"Oh my Mavis…" Levy whispered. "He's killed so many people already. Just how many are there? How many more does he need to murder?" Gajeel patted her shoulder comfortingly, but the sight sickened him as well. Gray, having realized that Juvia was intended to be one of the glowing orbs, raced straight into the altar, calling her name.

Lucy followed, keening and chirping and humming. The three dragon-slayers set off to trail down Juvia's scent, and Levy rushed to help Lucy. The golden Soul looked as if it wanted to cry, with its face pinched and twisted.

_All these poor mages. Some of them have been trapped in here for years. This one is only two days new from its body._

Lucy floated to a tiny white Soul. Like all the others, it was held down by a thick black band of metal that was chained to the altar's walls.

_These chains reek of evil. Maybe my Soul Purge can purify them and free the Souls._

"Just say, 'Soul Purge', and it should work," Levy told her, racing around to examine the others, searching for Juvia's face amongst the huddle.

~_**SOUL PURGE~**_

The metal bands split, and the Souls bobbed out of their chains. They swarmed around Lucy, and hummed and chirped together.

"I found Juvia!" Gray shouted. The others ran over to him, finding him facing Juvia high on the altar walls, chains holding her up. The water mage's eyes were closed, and a thin trickle of red ran from her body to where her guild mates stood anxiously. Gray brought his hands together and made a bridge, running up and grabbing her body with a frenzied hope.

She was still alive. It wasn't like bursting into Fairy Tail and seeing Lucy's body everywhere, because she was still alive and still in one piece. The relief was so strong it almost overwhelmed him, but he carefully removed her body from the chains first, knowing that somewhere beneath the clothes there was a wound and it was best for her if he carried her down to Wendy to get healed.

Gray was halfway down when the stairs exploded. Instinctively, he curled his body over Juvia protectively, and when they hit the ground he felt the air whoosh out of his lungs in painful spurts. The impact stunned him, enough for him to lie there while a familiar man bent over him to reach for Juvia, tsking.

"And she was about to die, too," Zeref complained smoothly, lifting the unconscious water mage over his shoulder. Behind him, the Fairy Tail mages readied themselves to fight, and Lucy prepared the rescued Souls to preform Soul Purge together. With a flick of the dark wizard's wrist, however, the black chains morphed into a pack of little demons that rushed the Souls and reached out for them with gnarled, twisted claws. Natsu sent a wave of fire toward them, and they scurried away from the fire's reach, hissing in resentment while the dragon-slayer set to keeping them away from the Souls as they gathered strength for Soul Purge.

One demon dodged Natsu's fireball and pounced onto Lucy, and since she was the largest and most powerful of the assembled Souls they all panicked and swarmed tighter around her. Levy cursed and quickly drew her pen, scribbling out little knives and throwing them at the demons with accuracy that she was proud of. Natsu and Wendy moved closer and together they blasted at the demons, with Gajeel running over to check Gray and make sure he was alright.

"I'm fine," Gray growled through gritted teeth, forcing his way to his feet with a nasty glare at Zeref. "Ice Make: Lance!" he formed the weapon and held it in his hands, guessing from his memory of the fight with Nuka that any attacks against the dark mage would be blocked by him thrusting the body in front of him and shielding himself. Gajeel could pretty much infer the same, and he turned his arms into iron rods and they circled Zeref, never letting Juvia out of their sight.

"Let her go, you bastard!" Gajeel snapped, his red eyes livid. Zeref cocked his head to the side, with a demonic smirk flitted across his face.

"Or what?" he taunted, his voice deep and thick. At the sound of it, mist began to swirl at his feet out of the ash, forming more black demons that howled with bloodlust and rage. They were larger than the ones attacking the Souls, and they rushed Gajeel and Gray with saliva streaming from snapping jaws. One foolishly tried to pounce on Gajeel, and the iron-dragon-slayer smashed it with his arm, and then used his magic to set up an iron cage around the demons with a pointed smirk at the dark wizard. "Oh, no. you know a bit of magic. But don't worry," Zeref sneered, letting Juvia slip to the ground and twisting his hands into the position for his magic, "I do, too." And he let a bolt of black lightning spear out from his palms and strike Gajeel, whose metallic arms caught the electricity and carried it. He screamed out in pain, but thrust his arms upward, throwing the lightning into the air. Panting, he sent an Iron Dragon's Roar at Zeref who merely scooped up Juvia and vanished.

"Dammit!" Gray roared, vaulting at the space they had just left in frustration, "They were right there! He took her! He has her! God what are we going to do!?"

_**~SOUL PURGE~ **_

He turned back to see the demons shriek and begin to pale, until they resembled little white dogs with golden spikes. The purified demons howled again, and darted around to find Zeref.

Lucy's Soul had taken the most damage out of them all. Natsu and Wendy's attacks had prevented most of the demons from reaching her, but deep cuts and scrapes covered the orb to show what the ones that had had left on her. The little white Soul was wobbling next to her, and she pulsed hard, sending a golden glow over the tens of Souls and the fighters. They felt warmth cover their bodies and their wounds sizzled away as the light left them.

_Hmmmmm… I don't believe I can last much longer…. Go find Juvia and I'll work on teaching these Souls what they can do to help._

The dragon-slayers plus Levy and Gray nodded, and took off after the demon dogs.

"Do not worry, Gray-san," Wendy cheered as they ran, "We will definitely find and rescue Juvia-san!"

"… Why didn't you guys tell me? What's wrong with me knowing that Juvia is the targeted mage?" he asked the others. Levy, seeing as Natsu had no clue, and Wendy and Gajeel didn't really know, moved closer to him.

"Master Makarov said that you could fall into a blind rage after finding out like Natsu did when Lu-chan was killed. He said it would be best if you didn't know who you were fighting to protect because it might hinder your fighting, or make you more likely to get shot down while fighting because you would be distracted."

"And he figured me going out of mind with worry for not knowing where Juvia is was better?" Gray pointed out. Levy sighed.

"If it weren't for Natsu messing up, you never would have found out that Juvia was gone. You wouldn't have had to worry."

"It's not my fault!" the accused dragon-slayer shouted indignantly.

"Shut yer mouths, idiots!" Gajeel snapped suddenly, waving for the others to stop. They were in another clearing, with Zeref holding Juvia's body draped over one shoulder and watching the Fairy Tail mages calmly.

"Give. Her. Back," Gray spit through his clenched teeth. Zeref chuckled coldly, holding the water mage up by her throat to display her to them clearly.

"You want her back? Have her _body_," he sneered, clenching down on her throat. Gray blanched at the crunch that followed, and when Juvia's body twitched and then stilled, he choked back a sob. Zeref loosened his hold as the faintest glow of cerulean sparked through her chest and then the small orb boldly pushed out. Gray sucked in his breath sharply at the sight of Juvia's Soul.

This was wrong. He was supposed to get there in time to save her, dammit! She shouldn't be lying there like that! She… she shouldn't be dead. Zeref tossed Juvia's body over to him, and reached out to grab the Soul. The glow died as soon as his fingertips touched it, and the Soul fell into his grip dully. The dark wizard snickered coldly, displaying the Soul triumphantly.

"And now I have the Soul of an Element Four wizard. Now, the collection is complete." His eyes flashed. "Now, the game can begin."

**I'm so mean, aren't I? Horrible cliff hanger. But I've been working on this all weekend and it seemed right to kidnap the laptop at midnight to finish writing it, so I decided…. **

**The sequel to I Give This Soul To You, And You And You is no longer a one-shot, but a two-shot! And I promise, that even if I have to steal the laptop and write at midnight instead of sleeping or studying for school, I will get your next chapter out by Christmas!**

** And thank you for being patient and reviewing! Although C.F.L. told me she never actually read the story, just reviewed to stop me from complaining to her. :D I shut her up by loitering on her own stories. Read and Review folks! It makes me happy! Also, major thanks to Aquos35 who pointed out to me that I said Raven Tail instead of Phantom Lord for Gajeel's former guild. Thank you again!**


	2. The Game

**Thank you all for waiting for this new update! And once again, thanks to Aquos35 for pointing out my mistake in the last chapter! Enjoy!**

Wendy caught Juvia's body as it fell towards her and pulled it gently behind a tree to shield it from the battle that she could tell was about to begin.

"What game?" Gray hissed, tears burning in his eyes. He forced himself to look away from Juvia's limp body and focus instead on her murderer.

"Why, the game of Life, of course. But also, the game of Death. It's simple, really," Zeref laughed morbidly. "I Live, and all you mere mages Die and become my servants. My own demons." He raised the hand that did not hold Juvia's Soul and snapped his fingers, emitting a black spark. A pure black orb materialized into his palm, and it began to bounce in his hand and screech. Zeref lifted the orb and turned back to the Fairy Tail mages. "Do you know… whose Soul this is?" the Soul screamed and cackled, and flipped right out of his hand to whiz off into the dead forest. "It's the demon Deliora's. oh," he snickered at Gray's start. "Do you recognize that name?"

"Sh-shut up!" he snapped. "What did you send it to do? Why is it here?"

Zeref pulled the cerulean Soul to his chest and grinned wickedly. "To collect all those Souls of mine you scattered, especially that golden one you were so foolish as to leave it behind, without any means of protection…"

Natsu flinched at the dark mages statement and took a step back. Levy, too, glanced behind her as if contemplating running back and checking on Lucy but Gajeel blocked them both with his arms.

"Don't leave. He's just trying to send you away because he knows that with you here we have a better chance of winning the battle. Bunny Girl can take care of herself and the others. Stay here."

Natsu glared wildly at his comrade, but when Levy fell back he did too, casting an anxious glance back to where he knew the altar was.

"100 Souls… do you not know the power of 100?" Zeref asked, seemingly shocked. "A Soul of every type – water, fire, celestial, etc.—plus enough extras to make 100 can turn me into a God. A Shinigami, if you will. And then I will turn all of you into my slaves, starting… with…" he leaned close to Gray, a nasty smirk on his face, "you. And I'll especially enjoy letting you two watch me as I slowly, oh so slowly destroy those Souls that you find… precious."

Gray screamed gutturally and leapt at the dark mage with arms outstretched and fingers curled, as if he were simply a wild animal and not a trained mage. Anger and hate for this wicked person filled his entire being and his blood pumped blood colder than the temperature it was thanks to his ice-magic. Zeref nimbly stepped aside and brought his free hand down on Gray's head, violently smacking him away with a sneer. Gray bounced away and then it was Gajeel who sent his iron dragon's roar mixed with Natsu's fire dragon's roar spiraling at Zeref, who lifted Juvia's Soul to block the attack.

The combined mixture smashed into the dull orb and it screamed a sound so harsh and painful that Levy and Wendy began to cry, and the other two dragon-slayers covered their ears with hateful grimaces.

"It certainly wouldn't hurt to add a few more Souls to the count. You know, just in case one of the demons gets…" Zeref's eyes glinted, "… hungry. Although, I think they can spare just that one golden one… after all, I have you five to add if I happen to 'lose' it."

This time, Natsu broke free and ran away while roaring out the name of his dead partner. Zeref sneered, and tossed Juvia's Soul up into the air, as if it were a mere toy and not the remnant of the deceased water mage. Gajeel cursed under his breath, and motioned for Levy to go with Natsu. She didn't even hesitate, and was gone in seconds, leaving Gajeel, Wendy, and Gray to face off the dark wizard by themselves.

Until Deliora's inky orb floated back into the clearing, towing a thick black chain that was wrapped tightly around Lucy. Wendy gasped, and her two nakama tensed. The golden Soul was as dull and unresponsive as Juvia, and it hurt to see the globule once so bright and energetic now seeming so utterly void of life. Deliora led the Soul towards Zeref and he chuckled with evil mirth as he reached out and clasped it in his palm.

"Do you see this? I told you not to leave your friend alone. Now she gets to pay." He threw both Souls down and jumped away from them as the black Soul shot a stream of onyx goo all over them. Gray snapped when the two girls' Souls began to sizzle and scream and he lunged for them, almost able to reach until Zeref slammed his heel into the ice-mages skull, stopping him dead in his tracks and kicking him away again.

"Dammit!" Gray roared, tears starting to slide down his cheeks. He climbed to his feet and pressed his hands together to summon his magic. "Ice Make: Lance!" the ice weapon surged out of his palms and toward Zeref, with a burst of speed thanks to Wendy using her sky magic to make the lance fly faster. Zeref dodged the weapon, and was met face to blunt tip as Gajeel's metallic arm appeared from nowhere and smashed into his nose. The iron dragon-slayer shoved his arm into his face, frustrated when it was unable to break skin or at least cause any visible damage.

"What is this guy?" Gajeel whispered, but the wind whirling around from Wendy's futile attacks caught his words and whipped them to the very devil he was inquiring about.

"Easy, I'm your worst nightmare," He cackled. He thrust his hands together and pointed them downward, and to the three wizards' horror he began to rise. One fist rose, and when it was brought down, Deliora unleashed a new volley of obsidian poison at the two helpless and abused Souls crushed into the ground. Gray took advantage of the dark mage's lack of attention in him to reach out for them again.

He had to choose between saving Lucy and saving Juvia, because it was painfully obvious he wouldn't be able to snatch them both to safety in this one move, just as much as it was that he would be unlikely to sneak in and steal another one away again.

_Gray…. Get…. Get Juvia…_

Lucy's weak voice sounded in his head just before the new spurt of poison hit her and she screeched in agony.

"I'm sorry, Lucy, I'm so sorry," he whispered to her before extending his arm just in time to scoop the cerulean Soul into his grasp before Zeref's feet came down again, this time onto the golden Soul that he'd painfully decided to leave in favor of rescuing the other.

Pale hands twisted and grabbed at him from above, so that it was impossible to try and get Lucy now because there was no way Gray could even reach her at this point, so he careened back and let himself fall into foliage because his arms were wrapped tightly around Juvia and wiping away the poison with his bare arms—when had he lost his shirt again?—so that she was safe in his grasp and nothing could hurt her now. (**Omg if that wasn't a major run-on sentence I have no clue what it was. Sorry all you O.C.D. peeps out there who probably just died from my lack of proper grammar!**)

Gray barely had time to blink before that very same pale fist crashed into his jaw, throwing him up and out of the bush and into a conveniently placed tree, much like the one that….

Gray ducked under Zeref's agitated attacks, trusting his nakama to fend him off, and grabbed Juvia's body from where it lay, draped onto a root.

"Go take that to Levy!" Gajeel snorted, as he crossed both metallic arms over Zeref and used his fingers as a sort of iron cage as Wendy shot her Sky Dragon's Roar at him. "She's done a lot of research on Soul resuscitation!"

The ice wizard scrambled upright, not bothering to snap at the dragon-slayer for indirectly calling Juvia a "That", and running as fast as his weary feet could carry him and the dead body of his—hard as it is for him to say out loud but still the truth—best friend and stalker.

Juvia is dead.

Even though she had been dead for many minutes, it seemed that his mind only just now fully comprehended that. Which was terrible, because not only was he on the bridge of a panic attack because he was almost overwhelmed by grief, but he was also being chased down by an angry psychopath with the power to kill them all and his old best friend's Soul clamped and tortured in his grip. Top it all off with the impending fear that he wouldn't be in time to save Juvia or Lucy, and you had a very confused and desperate Gray running not only for his life, but in some weird sense also for Juvia's and Lucy's.

Even though they were both dead.

Gray was so deep in his horrible thoughts that he didn't notice he'd made it back to the clearing with the altar until he ran smack into it.

It was then that he noticed the battle raging behind him with Natsu and Levy fighting off a new horde of black demons and onyx Souls that were earnestly attacking the Souls of the mages Zeref had murdered.

"Levy!" Gray rasped, shocked by the coarseness of his voice. "I got Juvia's Soul back! Help me revive her!"

The solid-script mage whipped around with a relieved grin that withered in seconds.

"Behind you, Gray! Quick!" she urged him, so that he spun around on his toes and flattened himself to the ground just as Deliora flew over with its hide morphed into a ball with jutting spikes and squirting poison just where his chest would have been, had Levy not warned him in time.

Gray quickly fumbled back to his feet, and used his magic to form an ice box around the demon's Soul. Levy sighed in relief, and ran over to him.

"Juvia can be revived, but only when her Soul is returned to her body before she's been dead for two hours," she told him. "If she's been dead even a minute longer than those two hours, she cannot be revived."

"She's got time," Gray responded. "She's got time. It's been only minutes. Only minutes."

Levy nodded with a quick glance behind them to ensure Natsu was ok with fighting the demons by himself before crouching next to the cerulean Soul and cupping it in her tiny hands. Juvia's face slowly blinked, and then focused on Levy and Gray. He caught his breath in a jagged inhale when she smiled slightly, and couldn't help it. he pulled her onto his chest and hugged her, because although it was almost 100% guaranteed that they could bring Juvia back to her body, he would much rather have her as just a floating ball of blue light with her face and memories and personality than just an empty husk of a body without any form of life inside.

When Levy gently pulled Juvia out from Gray's grip, the ice wizard nodded his thanks, setting the body next to her and jumping off to go help Natsu fight.

"I can't find Lucy, have you seen her?" the fire wizard panted as he punched out one demon, and then spun around to kick his sandaled feet through two more.

Gray hesitated, which didn't go quite unnoticed to Natsu, as he let out his Roar and then turned to his rival once they were sure all the demons and bad Souls were charred to useless and harmless ash.

"Where is she? Tell me," Natsu demanded, stepping forward to glare threateningly at his rival. Guilt closed Gray's throat, and he looked away, unable to tell the rambunctious wizard how he'd basically traded Lucy for Juvia and because of him, the golden Soul was probably near death.

Or re-death. She was already dead, what would you call this?

Anyways, Lucy was incapacitated and it was his fault. Gray didn't want Natsu to know that, but it seemed that the obnoxious fire mage was close to figuring out as much, if the panicked look on his face was anything to go off of.

"Where is she, Gray? I know you know, so tell me!" Natsu's voice grew higher and more desperate with each word, until he was practically groveling.

"That weak little golden Soul? She's right here." Both boys (**and Levy :D**) turned simultaneously to see Zeref, standing with ripped clothing and bloody scrapes and injuries, holding up Lucy's very battered Soul in one blood-stained palm.

Natsu went rigid, and out of the corner of his eye Gray could see the dragon slayer blanch and stare at the Soul with a mixture of raw grief and fear. He reached out with trembling fingers, and when Natsu's hand was a mere hairsbreadth away, Zeref tightened his grip with a dastardly chuckle. His scarlet fingers pierced through Lucy, and the Soul screamed in pure agony. He lunged for the injured Soul with desperate fingers and each time Zeref cackled and tightened his hold. Each time Lucy squeaked in pain until finally the Soul was quiet.

"Pity," The dark mage mused, staring at the lump in his hand that was unrecognizable from its former glory. "I didn't mean to… kill it. Too bad. Like I said, though, I have five replacements for it, right under my nose."

Gray coiled his muscles, ready to spring forward but Natsu leapt first, with all the speed and ferociousness of a true dragon in his attack. With a start, Gray recognized Dragon Force, and watched as the livid dragon-slayer raked enhanced talons across Zeref's face with roars of fury, and scratched and bit at his entire body until the dark mage was as still and limp as the crushed Soul he held.

It was then that Natsu seemed to calm, before completely severing the hand that clutched brutally at his partner's Soul and gently prying it from his grip.

Zeref howled once, and then seemed to slump into the ground. Satisfied, Natsu pulled out of his rage to solemnly inspect Lucy with pained onyx eyes. She cracked one eye open the slightest, and Gray turned away, too guilty to really celebrate her well-being, instead wanting to see how Levy was doing with reviving Juvia.

His blood ran cold.

The solid-script mage was a mass of seething flaps of bloody skin, frothing and foaming with large pincer-like appendages grabbing at the air, now that it had thrown away its disguise. The real Levy was slightly visible as she clutched Juvia's body and Soul with bloody hands from where she lay in the beast's folds. It turned towards Gray with its mouthful of huge churning fangs that dripped and sprayed with blood and saliva as it twisted into a horrible grin.

**Time to die, Fairy Tail.**

**Aaaaaaaaaand cut. Gomen ne everybody, I really apologize for leaving you with a cliffhanger as weird and creepy as this, especially since I feel like I promised to end this story with chapter 2, but it's just that I have no writing time left for today and my schedule is pretty packed for this week… like spending all of tomorrow writing a Christmas fic. So I wanted to just get this out so you all can have something to puzzle over for Winter Break! And I'm not going to promise anything, but I'm going to try and finally get the last chapter for Soul Song written and finished before New Year's….**

**:D…. anyways, Merry Christmas in advance in case I don't finish that Christmas fic in time! And thank you for being patient and continuing to read this!**


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